1. The Lakers energy level should be there. Who cares if the Lakers play Sunday afternoon, the day everyone loses an hour to daylight saving time. Forget about the Lakers' lackluster focus in their recent three-game trip. Stop worrying about the team dynamics that's featured player frustration regarding Mike Brown's offensive system, film meetings extending into say-what-you-want meetings and whether a trade's happening before the March 15 deadline. Regardless of their standing within the league, Lakers-Celtics games breed a whole other excitement level.

It didn't take long for Lakers Coach Phil Jackson to start working the referees. A day after the Lakers found out they'd play Oklahoma City in the first round of the playoffs, Jackson pointed out that Thunder forward Kevin Durant got a lot of favorable attention from referees. "Yeah, by the calls he gets, he really gets to the line a lot, I'll tell ya," Jackson said Tuesday. "There's a couple plays in the last game where I was pretty curious how he got there." Durant leads the NBA in scoring (30.1 points a game)

The sold-out Staples Center crowd shouted Kobe Bryant's name. This time, however, the chants had nothing to do with Bryant hitting a game-winner, performing a spectacular play or recognizing him as the league MVP while at the free-throw line. It had everything to do with the 18,997 fans wanting Coach Mike Brown to play him late in the fourth quarter of the Lakers' eventual 102-96 loss Sunday to the Memphis Grizzlies. Yet, there Bryant sat on the bench with 5:45 remaining in the game, shortly after the Lakers' star punched the bench in frustration during a timeout and then leaving the Lakers' huddle while coaches were diagramming a play.

There was a video montage filled with his highlights, followed by a black-and-white screen that said with strong simplicity: "Bynum's Baaaack." Indeed, Andrew Bynum returned after missing 32 games, and the Lakers continued along the same successful path they had experienced without their 21-year-old center, defeating the Denver Nuggets, 116-102, Thursday at Staples Center.

Reporting from Boston -- Andrew Bynum will be tired of a lot of things by the time the next couple of days come to a close. To name a few: ice, electro-stim machines and questions about his swollen right knee. The Lakers center played only 12 minutes in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, collecting two points and three rebounds in the Lakers' 96-89 loss to the Boston Celtics. He didn't look strong Thursday, but said he was optimistic about playing Sunday in Game 5. "I've got two days to get some treatment, pump a little bit of the swelling out," he said.

Former Lakers center Andrew Bynum has been suspended by the Cleveland Cavaliers for "conduct detrimental to the team" and it's likely the Cavs will attempt to trade him or simply cut him in a money-saving move. The Cavaliers announced Saturday morning that Bynum "has been excused from all team activities indefinitely. " Bynum contributed to two Lakers championships but struggled with chronic knee injuries. Instead of re-signing the 7-footer to a long-term deal, the Lakers dealt Bynum to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2012 before his contract expired.

Then there's the other starter who sat out Thursday's game.... Lakers center Andrew Bynum missed his ninth game because of a strained left Achilles' tendon, though he pledged to return by a fairly important date — April 18. "I'm going to play the first game of the playoffs," he said before the Lakers played Denver, staying back in the locker room with Kobe Bryant , who sat out because of swelling in his right knee. Bynum missed 32 games down the stretch last season because of a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee, but said it wouldn't take as long for him to return to form this time.

Just wondering if 2-0 is the new 3-0 in the NBA playoffs. . . . It used to be that a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series meant merely holding serve, if a team like, say, the Lakers opened at home. Now 2-0 seems to be treated like a stranglehold, a near-lock on a spot in the next round. But enough about the media. L.A. fans on Wednesday fast-forwarded to a meeting in the Finals with a certain green-and-white-clad nemesis, chanting "We want Boston!" near the end of Game 2 at Staples Center against the Suns.

Nearly every time Andrew Bynum muscled his way inside, two barricades stopped his imposing presence. One roadblock came in the form of Thunder center Kendrick Perkins, whose physical approach to defense suddenly prevented Bynum from bullying his way to the basket. The other barrier simply reflected Bynum missing routine hooks, post-up shots or "bunnies," as he likes to call them. The Lakers' 99-96 victory Friday over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal playoff series featured Bynum shooting only two of 13 from the field, leading him to say, "My touch today was a little off around the rim. " Yet, Lakers Coach Mike Brown gushed afterward that Bynum "was an absolute monster.

This is unexpected. Superman is fighting Superman. Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard collided verbally Thursday with a predictably messy landing. Howard was not thrilled with O'Neal's assertion that Philadelphia's Andrew Bynum and New Jersey's Brook Lopez were better centers than him. "I don't care what Shaq says," Howard said flatly after Lakers practice. "Shaq played the game and he is done. It's time to move on. He hated the fact when he played that older guys were talking about him and how he played.